My minimalist quest to live off grid in the desert in a modified 1977 Dodge motor home rebuilt from mostly recycled, and re-purposed stuff. It's a purposeful lifestyle of survival to help prepare me for a possible mission to Mars in 2034... or something like that.

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Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Living Full Time in the Desert

So almost two weeks ago I transitioned from part time apartment living part time living in the desert in my motor home to living in my motor home full time in the desert. It has been a trying yet beautiful experience so far. There have been times while working outside in the day I've seen the ravens fly by and it was so quiet I could hear the amazing sound of their wings flapping against the air. I have never seen clearer skies at night that fill me with such wonder, yet, at the same time I've had nights where I was realistically scared I might freeze to death.

Living where your survival depends almost entirely on you is definitely a different ball game. I produce all of my own electricity. I have to bring any water that I use in from town in water tanks or collect rain/snow. There are so many challenges. Staying alive and surviving are always on my mind. In a way it helps me feel liberated from societal worries.

My first attempt at burning a paper log I made by manually smashing wet paper together soaked in fry oil.

I put some new shelves in my trailer to organize all my stuff--since literally everything I own is on my property now.

The first snow of the year.

Three Labradors were roaming around my property barking at me. I think they might belong to the person with the Old Hickory Shed about a mile away.

I've been surviving the cold by burning pieces of scrap wood I chop into kindling and with a Mr Heater propane heater which I don't use when I'm sleeping because dying is a bad idea. To keep me warm at night I boil water and fill 3 old Barilla pasta sauce jars, put them in socks then stuff them in my cold weather sleeping bag covered in blankets. With my sock monkey and a source of heat I almost feel not so alone on cold nights.